


Of Brains and Brawn

by Megatraven



Series: Five Words [8]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Punk, Drabble, F/M, Gen, Mentions of Alya, Rated T for language, buff mari, can u believe this fic started out as Marinette selling pokemon cards to adrien bEFORE I CHANGED IT, mentions of Nino, nerd adrien, oh yeah kim's a bully sorry, prompt, punk mari, secretly buff adrien, this took me forever to actually write lol, unedited
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-07
Updated: 2016-09-07
Packaged: 2018-08-13 13:22:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7978192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megatraven/pseuds/Megatraven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Bitch better have my money with Mari/ladybug and Adrien/chat." - Anonymous</p><p>Do u even know how hard this is omg it killed my writing for like a month xD</p><p>Anyways, a punk!mari and nerd!adrien au! Also Kim’s a bully sorry. There is swearing in this fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Brains and Brawn

Her foot tapped in a random rhythm as students parted to avoid knocking into her. While she wasn’t very physically violent with other people, stories and rumors spread like wildfire and even teachers avoided her if they could. But she rarely ever caused any problems, and so to the people who got to know her, she was rather sweet and a big softie. That always made her think of her dad- he was intimidating, but as much a softie as she was. Despite that, though, she had a tough exterior, shown especially by her red-and-black color scheme, spike-adorned leather jacket, and combat boots. Her knuckles were often bruised and bloody from boxing practice, which only increased the rumors and their intensity, but she usually didn’t pay attention to any of it. Why correct them if they won’t believe her? Sure, she could have scared people into believing her, but that was rather counter-productive in her mind. Besides, she didn’t much care for confrontation, and on the rare occasions she had to confront someone, it was always for a good reason. Like when she waited for a certain someone to leave their classroom, tapping her foot impatiently.

It took a few minutes, much to her ire, but eventually the person she waited for came out and, upon seeing her, froze in place. The students all quieted as she stepped towards him, ferocity and confidence oozing from her. When she stood in front, she looked up into his eyes and smirked. “So, Kim, you have my money yet? It’s been a week,” she told him in a voice filled with false sweetness. Despite being the smaller person physically, she towered over the boy before her.

“L-listen, I’ll have it for you at the end of the day, okay? There’s a bet- I’m sure to win, and I’ll have it then,” Kim replied, quivering in front of her.

Marinette sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “You know those are unreliable. But if you’re so certain you’ll win, I’ll see you after school,” she said before pushing past him and heading to her own class. Her favorite class of the day, in fact, because she just so happened to be partnered up with the kindest guy in the school: Adrien Agreste. He wasn’t much for looks- or, well, most people didn’t think so. Marinette thought he was positively charming. And the best part? She’d gotten to meet him when he started that year before anyone could scare him away from her. She knew the rumors had ended up reaching him anyways, but he never mentioned them, making him the third person in their entire school that didn’t.

When she slid into the seat beside him, she offered a warm smile and leaned back in her chair. They didn’t talk all that much when there was no assignment to talk about, so it came as a surprise when he tuned towards her and cleared his throat to grab her attention.  
“Uh, hey Marinette. I was wondering if, um, you could do me just a small favor after school today?” he asked her, hesitant but pushing through it. When she gave a nod in response, he continued, “See, I might have, ah, accidentally gotten involved in a bet a-and... Well, Nino told me that unless I have someone backing me up, I’m gonna lose big time. Like... like, if I win, they’ll make me admit I cheated or lost. And if I do lose, they’ll try to get more out of me than what I had bet, so I was hoping you’d maybe find me after school? That way if anything does happen I won’t get, uh, beat up or anything?”

Marinette processed all the information, subconsciously making the connection between Adrien’s bet involvement and Kim’s. She considered his request, and while she didn’t really want to get involved, she would never forgive herself if Adrien got hurt or bullied because she wasn’t there. The decision was easy.

“Sure. I might be a couple minutes late ‘cause I gotta go to my locker, but I’ll find you and be there.”

He smiled out of relief and moved to squeeze her shoulder. “Thanks, Mari,” he told her. She smiled back, but his words didn’t register as much as the strength in his squeeze had. For a home-schooled kid set on going into physics, he was pretty strong. She wondered what muscles he hid beneath his jackets and sweater vests. It was this thought that occupied her for the rest of the school day, and she would be lying if she said it left her mind when she shut her locker door at the end of the day. While it definitely lingered, she had business to attend to. She had to look for Kim and Adrien both- one to receive what was hers, and the other to protect if need be.

As she walked through the emptying halls, she stuck a piece of gum in her mouth and listened for any sounds of the people she looked for. It didn’t take too long, thankfully, because if she were being completely honest, Kim was loud as hell. He was yelling about something, backed up by what sounded like his little posse. Not particularly caring about what he was shouting about, Marinette opened the door that led into the boy’s locker room.

As she walked towards the ruckus, she muttered under her breathe, “Bitch better have my money.” She recalled why he owed her money in the first place when she said this- she’d given him the benefit of the doubt and lent him some cash she had been planning to use on fabrics for her secret passion: making fashionable clothing.

She paused just as she was about to walk where they could see her, finally tuning into what was being said.

“Admit it! You cheated us because you think we’re stupider than you. Thought we wouldn’t figure it out, huh? Either you can take another punch to the gut, or you can give me the money you owe us since cheating means you lose.” That was Kim, she was certain of it.

“N-no. I didn’t cheat, you just don’t like to lose!” That was... that was Adrien. And Kim had said another punch. That meant they’d already began beating him up. That meant she didn’t protect him like he had asked. And that made her beyond furious.

She stepped out from behind the wall of lockers and slammed an open one shut. The group jumped and turned to the sound, all of them but Adrien freezing beneath her glare. She narrowed her eyes and made a show of cracking her knuckles before growling out, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” She looked at everyone involved, minus Adrien, but it was clear Kim was the one she awaited an answer from.

“O-oh! Uh, well, y’see... Agreste here cheated us out of our mo- your money. So w-we were trying to get it out... of... him?” His words trailed into a frail question as she grew angrier.

“Yeah, I see. I see you bullying. I see you cheating. I see you being a sore loser, as always. But what I’m not seeing is your asses getting the hell out of here.” The group hesitated. “Go!” she barked, managing to get a few people to run out. Kim and his closer circle remained, one still pinning Adrien down.

“No. We’re not- we’re not going to do what you say anymore, Ladybug. You’re just one person, y-you can’t possibly stand against my group and I. Right, boys?” he asked, looking at the remainders of his group. They each offered some nervous-sounding affirmation.

“Really now? And just what’re you gonna do? Fight me all at once?” No response. She scoffed, “As if. Get out of here, Kim. And let Adrien go.” She finally glanced his way, and while he seemed a bit shaken, he appeared to have recovered from the earlier punches she’d missed.

Kim, seeing her glance at Adrien, smirked. He pushed the person pinning him out of the way before pushing him to the ground and stepping on his back. “You gonna make me, Marinette?”

Her nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed further. She slid her bag off her shoulders and kicked it aside, making a show of cracking her neck and back. Taking a deep breathe, she said, “You bet I am, Cupid.” And then his goons converged on her.

She took a few hits, but they took more than seven times the amount of hits she did. It wasn’t that difficult, considering they were all bark and barely any bite. Kim didn’t generally surround himself with other beefy guys- he didn’t want the competition as alpha. So, as quickly as the fight had began, it ended, and she sent the lackeys running.

“Huh. Alright, well... I still got Agreste, so,” he said, pushing his foot down harder on him, “I’m the one in control.” His voice sounded confident, but confidence could be faked, Marinette knew. She could see the larger boy trembling, and it almost made her smile. Almost. Her friend winced and gasped as Kim crushed him, and she wouldn’t stand for it.

“Kim, I’m going to be generous and give you one more chance to let him go and leave us alone,” she said, voice cold but calm. When he did nothing more than switch the foot pressing down on Adrien, his chances ran out. Marinette stepped forward and readied a punch. Kim made to block it, but Marinette had speed and intelligence on her side. Instead of aiming for his nose, like she had initially planned, she crouched and hit him where it’d really hurt. She knew her aim was true when he staggered back, unable to formulate words and instead settling on a pathetic whine. He fell to his knees as tears from the pain fell down his face. But Marinette wasn’t done just yet. She grabbed his shirt and lifted him back to his feet, slamming him up against the lockers. “Get out of here, Kim. I don’t want to find out you’ve messed with Adrien ever again, understand?” When he said nothing, she raised her voice, “Understand!?”

He nodded, and as she let go of him, he ran out of the locker room in an odd fashion that could only be attributed to what she had done.

Sighing, Marinette turned around, her features instantly softening at the boy before her. She held her hand out to him, which he took gratefully.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner. You got hurt when I should have been here to protect you,” she said, voice quiet and filled with regret. She found she couldn’t meet his eyes as she hoisted him to his feet.

He didn’t respond right away. Instead, he kept her hand in his and used his spare one to tilt her head up so she would look at him. And she did, after a moment. “Mari, things would have been so, so much worse if you hadn’t showed up. You said you’d be a few minutes late and you were- which is fine. You came through for me, s-so thank you for that. I appreciate it. Really.”

It was her turn to not respond instantly. She stared into his eyes for a good while, eventually inspecting his entire face, looking for any trace of fear or a lie. But she found none. “Anytime,” she said, laughing softly. He echoed her and dropped his hand from her face.

“Oh! Are you, uh, busy at all? Like, right now I mean?” he asked.

“No, I’ve got the day off and I didn’t have any plans for today.”

“Awesome! Would you maybe like to go get something to eat? It would, uh, be my treat! They didn’t get my money so...” he trailed off, scratching the back of his neck.

“I would love to get something with you,” she replied, grinning.

“Great! It’s a date! I-I mean, well, it doesn’t have to be one, I don’t want to force you into it or anything and I mean, you probably don’t even like me that way so-”

“Adrien,” she interrupted.

“Y-yeah?”

“It’s a date.”

The two exchanged another smile and walked out of the locker room. They both decided to conveniently forget about letting go of the other’s hand.

**Author's Note:**

> Considering turning this into a short chapter fic. Thoughts? :>
> 
> Scream to me at Megatraven on tumblr! Comments and kudos are always appreciated!


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